The Lines Are Blurred
by stargirlvlg
Summary: Nothing is just light and dark, good and evil, right and wrong, black and white. There's always shades of grey. Set of drabbles, rated for occasional swearwords.


I've noticed that J. K. Rowling, like so many authors here in the wonderful Western world, puts a huge focus on Good and Evil. Everything is black or white; sometimes you aren't sure which color it is (aka Snape) but it's got to be one of the two, because there are no shades of grey in Rowling's wizarding world. This series of drabbles is putting the shades of grey into this landscape.

The Lines Are Becoming Blurred

by stargirlvlg

1) What is right?

rated K+, for a few cursewords

_An Auror on the job begins questioning 'right' and 'wrong.'_

I was so proud to become an Auror. To finally be able to stand up and fight for the Light, to beat back the Darkness and its minions, and to make the world safe for everyone. I was so proud, and so ready. So when I was chosen to be inserted into the Death Eater's ranks as a spy for the Light, I immediately accepted; I had no fear of death, for I was so sure that my sacrifice would be for the right cause.

Now, though, I'm not so sure. I've been at this for six months—and _damn_, is being a double agent hard work—and I have made progress, but not much, hardly enough to make a difference for us. And every day, progress or not, I risk getting caught, tortured, _killed_ in a thousand slow and painful ways.

But that isn't what is making me doubt. Not the challenge or the danger—if anything, they would make me more determined, more eager. No, it's the _people_ that have made me doubt, the Death Eaters.

I've been taught ever since I could remember—by my parents, by my siblings, by my professors, my colleagues, my bosses—that they were heartless, that they were deranged, that they were supremacist bastards, cowardly scum, deluded idiots…and most of all, that they were _wrong_. That they had to be wrong, and could never be right, because _we_ were right, and they were our opposite, so they must be wrong.

But when I met them—and I mean really _met_ them, not just in the circles in You Know Who's presence, or in a mission; but as people, like I met Mr. Parkinson the other day at Madam Malkin's—I was shocked. These people weren't heartless, or cowardly, or dishonest, or any of the adjectives I was taught to describe them as; they were normal, down-to-earth people, if not a bit snobby (as some were, like Malfoy; but then again, what aristocrat isn't?). Most of them were even sane, save the ones who had been in Azkaban since the last war, and just recently escaped.

What struck me most of all, though, was their conviction. They believe in You Know Who and his cause with their whole hearts; they really believe that the population is polluted and needs to be cleansed. They believe that they are _right_.

And it has made me wonder: since we believe we are right, and they believe they are right…who really is right? Can either of us be right? And who gets to decide?

If I could decide, I'd say that neither of us are right; at least, not entirely. Because in order for us to be entirely right, they'd have to be entirely wrong. And they can't be entirely wrong, because people don't fight for the sake of what is wrong; they always fight for what they believe is right. But we can't be all wrong either, because then they'd be all right, which they certainly aren't.

But who decides on what is 'right' or 'wrong'? I don't know the full answer myself, but ask almost anyone I've ever met, and they'll say "God." But what does God say is right and wrong? And don't tell me it's in The Bible, because sides have been warring against each other each in God's name and each backed up by the words of The Holy Bible since Merlin knows how long ago. And so, since God couldn't really say that both sides were right, then one of them must be wrong about what God is saying, and that brings us back to the question of who is really right, which can't really be answered without answering this question, so we're stuck in a big stinkin' pile of our own philosophical bullshit.

Which leads me to believe that there is no 'right' or 'wrong' in the absolute sense of the words, and thus that the Light that I've been working so hard for isn't really all it's cracked up to be, and perhaps the Dark I've been fighting so hard against isn't really so dark.

So what am I fighting for?

Author's Note: The obvious question in the examination of Good and Evil: right and wrong, absolute, or not? As you've probably guessed, I don't believe in absolute right and wrong, nor in absolute good or evil. If you do, that's fine; no hatin'. I just want to express my views.


End file.
